research Articles, Stories & News

The term betavoltaic is interchangeable with atomic battery, nuclear battery, tritium battery and radioisotope generator. They are used to designate a device, which expends energy from the decay of a radioactive isotope to produce electricity.

Scientists at the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) work to refine the technique called hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE), which holds the potential to produce cheaper, more efficient solar cells capable of producing more electricity.

CHS, or cyclohexasilane (Si6H12), is an excellent Si precursor, many say the best source for the atom Si. The silicon atom has wide ranging chemical characteristics; from semiconductor chips to silicone caulk to Si oxide (glass).

A quantum dot solar cell (QDSC) is a solar cell that uses quantum dots as the captivating photovoltaic material. It is used to replace bulky materials such as silicon, or copper indium gallium selenide.

How do you identify the ideal molecular structure for a solar absorber or, perhaps, for a drug supplied as a powder of molecular crystals? The computing power of one of the worlds most advanced supercomputers can help.

Graphite has been the default choice of active material for anodes in lithium-ion batteries since their original launch by Sony but researchers and manufacturers have long sought a way to replace graphite with silicon, as it is an abundantly available element with ten times

Artificial photosynthesis requires only sunlight and simple organic chemicals to generate renewable energy cheaply and cleanly. While some limited progress has been made in this area, until now, no proposed solution has been nearly efficient enough to warrant commercial use.

Working with partners in industry and academia, NREL delivers the scientific building blocks for new energy technologies that drive the country's economic growth. NREL's world-class researchers, facilities, tools, and analysis yield innovations that create new business opportunities and greatly reduce the risk of investment for energy companies and manufacturers.

In addition to the technical lessons learned, the project team expects to draw conclusions regarding the changes necessary to the current regulatory regime that will enable the optimum usage of energy storage in unbundled power systems.

Science Daily: Despite the rigors of scientific inquiry and the methodical approaches of the world's most talented researchers, sometimes science has a surprise in store.
Such was the case when a group of researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Akron discovered that a particular form of carbon coating not necessarily designed for wind turbines may indeed prove a boon to the wind industry -- a serendipitous finding that was recently highlighted in the journal Tribology International.
Due to the strenuous environment inherent in wind turbine drivetrains, key components such as actuators, bearings and gears are prone to failure, meaning turbines require regular maintenance that helps drive up the price of wind energy. Prolonging the life of these components could greatly reduce the cost of wind power, the fastest growing source of energy in the world, thereby making it an even more attractive energy source. Cont'd...

By Tereza Pultarova for E&T: German researchers have developed a new carbon-based active material that can be manufactured from apple leftovers and used to build better energy storage systems.
The apple-based material can be used as the negative electrode in sodium-ion batteries, which are currently being researched as a more environmentally friendly and cheaper alternative to lithium-ion batteries.
Instead of energy-intensive lithium mining, which frequently damages the environment, battery manufacturers in future could be using organic waste to make batteries.
In tests, the new material discovered by researchers from the Helmholtz Institute Ulm of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, has demonstrated ‘excellent electrochemical properties’, allowing the researchers to carry out 1000 charge and discharge cycles during which the apple-based battery demonstrated high stability as well as capacity. Cont'd...

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